Monsters vs Griffins Preview, Live Game Updates, and Recap - First of Three This Week
Photo Credit: Cleveland Monsters
After a much-needed holiday break, the Cleveland Monsters (17-8-1-2) take on the Grand Rapids Griffins (17-9-3-0) at 7pm at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in the first of three games this week. Both teams headed into the break needing to rejuvenate their caliber of play. Grand Rapids lost a season-high three straight games, all of which were against Central Division opponents who sit directly behind them on the leaderboard. On the other side of the ice, Cleveland has been struggling to play 60 minutes of hockey causing them to fall to third in the North Division.
Player To Watch
For a rookie, Grand Rapids’ Nate Danielson has shone for the past few months. He is currently tied for second in short-handed assists (2), tied for first among rookies in short-handed assists (2), tied for seventh among rookies in assists (13), and tied for 12th among rookies in power-play assists (4). Even when Danielson isn’t on the stat sheet , he’s still making noise on special teams by breaking up the opposition's plays and moving the Griffins plays up ice.
Cleveland’s Trey Fix-Wolansky has always been a thorn in the side of the Griffins. In fact, many fans and media have nicknamed him “The Griffins Killer”. Fix-Wolansky is currently riding a six-game point streak (2-7-9) and a three-game assist streak (4). He is also second in the league with 32 points, tied for first with two shootout goals, and tied for second with four game-winning goals.
Various Sundries
While playing at home, Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber has a record of 8-0-1-0 coaching against the Griffins. Since taking the helm in the 2022-23 season, Vogelhuber has a coaching record of 12-5-1-0 against Grand Rapids.
Monsters forwards Gavin Brindley (2gp, 1-2-3) and Roman Ahcan (2gp, 1-2-3) are scoring at over a point-per-game pace vs Grand Rapids this season.
Cleveland forward Luca Del Bel Belluz is tied for third in the AHL with 31 points, tied for third in the league with 16 goals, and fifth in the league with a 27.1% shooting percentage. He’s also riding a two-game point streak (1-1-2).
Cleveland has a record of 13-1-1-0 when outshooting their opponents and a record of 10-0-0-1 when leading after two periods.
Monsters Captain Stefan Matteau has missed all 28 games this season with an upper-body injury.
Cleveland currently leads the AHL in average attendance, 10,208
Grand Rapids’ veteran forward Dominik Shine ranks first on the roster in both points (7-15-22) and assists (15). He has three points in his last four games.
Griffins forward Austin Watson is tied for second on the roster with 21 points (9-12-21) and leads the team with four power play goals.
Grand Rapids has a record of 14-0-0-0 when scoring at least three goals this season. On the flip side, they have a record of 3-9-3-0 when scoring fewer than three goals.
In their last 18 regular-season road games, the Griffins have allowed 50 goals (2.78 GA per game).
Officials
Referees : Adam Tobias (16), Jared Cummins (2)
Linespeople : Bryan Gorcoff (43), Luke Stork (4)
Cleveland Lineup
Forwards
Rocco Grimaldi - Luca Del Bel Belluz - Trey Fix-Wolansky
James Malatesta - Dylan Gambrell - Owen Sillinger
Roman Ahcan - Hunter McKown - Justin Pearson
Jake Gaudet - Joseph LaBate - Cameron Butler
Defensemen
Daemon Hunt - Corson Ceulemans
Samuel Knazko - Stanislav Svozil
Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm - Cole Clayton
Goalies
Jet Greaves - Zach Sawchenko
Griffins Lineup
Forwards
Joe Snively - Nate Danielson - Austin Watson
Tim Gettinger - Sheldon Dries - Dominik Shine
Elmer Soderblom - Gabriel Seger - Alex Doucet
Jakub Rychlovsky - Ondrej Becher
Defensemen
William Lagesson - Brogan Rafferty
William Wallinder - Antti Tuomisto
Shai Buium - Josiah Didier
Emil Viro
Goalies
Ville Husso - Jack Campbell
Start of the 1st Period - Monsters 0, Griffins 0
1st Period, 5:30 - BARN BURNER
From the moment the puck dropped, the Monsters and Griffins were at each other’s throats. Hands, hips, and hits were thrown left and right.
It took 2:44 into the first period for a fight to break out between Grand Rapids’ forward Austin Watson and Cleveland forward Cameron Butler. After 18 seconds, Butler dropped Watson to the ground winning the fight.
1st Period, 14:00 - Battle of the Goaltenders
Jet Greaves (Cleveland) and Ville Husso (Grand Rapids) are making it hard for their opponents to score.
Greaves sprawled out on the ice multiple times to prevent goals. While, Husso snatched put out of the air with ease.
GOAL - 1st Period, 15:18 - Monsters 0, Griffins 1
Joe Snively scored his 11th goal of the season 15:18 into the first period. Snively was left alone allowing him to rush to the top of the crease and sneak one past Greaves.
1st Period, 18:08 - Mighty Fix-Wolansky
Trey Fix-Wolansky may be small but he is not afraid to try to fight a man who is 6’8”. With a little under two minutes to play in the first period, Griffins forward Elmer Soderblom laid a big hit on Fix-Wolansky and Samuel Knazko. Fix-Wolansky voiced his unhappiness with how hard the hit was to Knazko by using his fists and words.
After the refs pulled them off of each other, Fix-Wolansky continued to jaw Soderblom.
GOAL - 1st Period, 18:27 - Power Play - Monsters 0, Griffins 2
Sheldon Dries tipped Dominik Shine’s shot into the top of the net to give the Griffins the 2-0 lead over the Monsters.
*This goal was changed to Dominik Shine’s goal during the second intermission
End of the 1st Period - Monsters 0, Griffins 2
The first period was full of aggressive words, heavy hits, and chaos. Lots of chaos. At the beginning of the game, the officials let a lot slide but things quickly got out of hand. Grand Rapids was able to use the chaos to their advantage. After some of the bigger scuffles, the Griffins were able to score.
With 11 seconds left in the opening period, a rumble broke out between the two teams giving the Monsters a power play.
Start of the 2nd Period - Monsters 0, Griffins 2
Cleveland started the second period with 1:50 of power play time.
GOAL - 2nd Period, 1:54 - Monsters 1, Griffins 2
After time expired on the power play, Hunter McKown launched a shot from the near faceoff dot to cut the Griffins lead in half.
Stanislav Svozil fired a shot off that Ville Husso blocked. He picked up his own rebound and immediately passed it off to McKown.
2nd Period, 5:00 - Up Close and Personal With Husso
Cleveland kept getting up close and person with Husso. At one point, Luca Del Bel Belluz was underneath Husso in the crease and literally lifted him off the ground with his back.
Things are wild in Cleveland tonight.
End of the 2nd Period - Monsters 1, Griffins 2
Cleveland’s defense let their skills do the talking and held Grand Rapids to six shots during the first 12:24 of the second period. The Griffins were unable to register a shot during the last 7:36 of the middle stanza.
Yet again, things got out of hand and the officials couldn’t control the fights. There were a lot of whacks and cross-checks while the refs were preoccupied with the play on the other end of the ice.
Start of the 3rd Period - Monsters 1, Griffins 2
GOAL - 3rd Period, 1:51 - Monsters 1, Griffins 3
From the corner, Shai Buium passed the puck to Gabriel Seger who was open in the middle of the slot. Seger swiveled and sniped it into the net.
GOAL - 3rd Period, 10:37 - Power Play - Monsters 1, Griffins 4
Joe Snively scored his second goal of the night with 9:23 to play in the game. He picked up a rebound, knelt to the ground, and fired it right through Greaves’ five-hole.
GOAL - 3rd Period, 16:29 - Monsters 1, Griffins 5
Joe Snively earned a hat trick by scoring an empty net goal with a little over three minutes to play in the game. Austin Watson sped down the ice on a breakaway. As Daemon Hunt closed up the shooting lane, Watson passed the puck over to Snively who quickly fired it into the back of the net.
Final - Monsters 1 , Griffins 5
The Monsters were unable to seal the deal in front of their largest crowd of the season, 16,151. However, Cleveland Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber felt like the Monsters played well for the first two periods of the game. “As far as the energy coming out of break, I liked,” said Coach Vogelhuber. “It’s just in the third period some details started to slip there.” Vogelhuber expanded on this stating, “I thought we had control of the game. Regardless of the score or the result at the end of two periods, I really liked our game.”
Three Stars
1st - Grand Rapids - Joe Snively - 3 goals, 0 assists
2nd - Grand Rapids - Ville Husso - 32 saves, 33 shots faced, TOI - 60:00
3rd -Grand Rapids - Nate Danielson - 0 goals, 3 assists
